


Welcome to the Raptor Squad

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Series: Ancestry [2]
Category: Jurassic Park - All Media Types, Jurassic World Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: Bonding, Claire meets the Raptor Squad for the first time, Dinosaur/Human Hybrids, Gen, Genetic Engineering, Pre-Jurassic World, ZERO SPOILERS for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, baby raptor squad, read the first fic before this one or this one won't make any sense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 16:13:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15295272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: “We haveraptorson this island?” Claire’s voice was a little louder than it should have been, but in her defence, it was a hell of a thing to discover. “In a family-friendly theme park, with small children running around?”“Take it up with InGen,” was the response Claire got.“Oh, I intend to,” said Claire, seething with righteous fury.





	Welcome to the Raptor Squad

** Welcome to the Raptor Squad **

When Claire was promoted to the position of Operations Manager for Jurassic World, the first thing she did was inspect every section of the park herself.

She didn’t always understand what she was looking at, nor always have the requisite knowledge to foresee potential problems: but she knew exactly the right questions to ask, and how to get useful answers out of people who weren’t exactly happy about management suddenly breathing down their necks. 

Which was how Claire found out about InGen’s IBRIS project – or, to use its full title, the _Integrated Behavioral Raptor Intelligence Study._

“We have _raptors_ on this island?” Claire’s voice was a little louder than it should have been, but in her defence, it was a hell of a thing to discover. “In a family-friendly theme park, with small children running around?”

“Take it up with InGen,” was the response Claire got. 

“Oh, I intend to,” said Claire, seething with righteous fury.

Her Mom and Dad had barely escaped with their lives after encountering the pack of raptors from the original park. Those raptors had been hunted down and eventually killed when Masrani Global had taken control of Islar Nublar, and until now, Claire had assumed that they were the only raptors to exist in the modern age.

Claire understood, better than anyone, the danger of raptors. A portion of her own DNA was raptor, and she had instincts which she had battled all her life to suppress. If Claire, who was mostly human, had trouble with her aggression and deadly instincts, how much worse would the raptors be – their own instincts untempered by human compassion and sociability?

So Claire bit the bullet, and for the first time since she’d come to Jurassic World, she went into Dr Wu’s genetic labs.

Even as a teenager, when she’d gotten the extended tour of the park’s facilities with her Dad, Claire hadn’t ventured into the labs themselves. Since then she’d seen the rooms the tourists went through – watched the genetic scientists work through the plate-glass windows – but she’d never gone into the labs where the real work was done, rather than the area where they put on a show for visitors.

Claire had avoided Dr Wu, too, only interacting with him during staff meetings, and even then only talking to him when strictly necessary. She didn’t actually remember him from her childhood – but there were a lot of things Claire didn’t _remember_ that were still floating around in her brain somewhere, influencing her reactions.

Sometimes, though, it was necessary to do things she didn’t want to do, and if Claire was to keep the people on this island safe, she needed to talk to Dr Wu about the raptors. So she dressed in her most professional-looking outfit, took a deep breath, and went off to visit the labs.

Getting in was easy, but once Claire was inside it was a different matter. Everything smelled strange, but on some level the strangeness was familiar. It bypassed conscious memory to press buttons buried deep in Claire’s subconscious mind. Just being there, under the bright lights and surrounded by the smell of chemicals made Claire feel… very small, and unsafe. Her nerves were on edge, and it took every bit of Claire’s willpower to keep walking down the hallways towards Dr Wu’s office, instead of turning around and bolting for the external doors.

Claire smiled, a bright, brittle smile, and knocked on the door of Dr Wu’s office.

The head of InGen’s genetics division glanced up from his computer, eyebrows rising. He stood as Claire approached his desk.

“Ms Dearing,” he said. “What a surprise. Is there something I can assist you with?”

“Yes, actually,” said Claire, still with the bright, brittle smile on her face. “You can tell me what you mean by creating a pack of _raptors_.”

“Ah.” Dr Wu exhaled. “I take it you’ve heard of what happened with the original pack.”

“People _died_ because of the original pack. I’ve read that paper one of the survivors wrote – I think it was called _Playing God: why resurrecting the most efficient predators ever to walk the Earth is sheer stupidity_?” 

Claire paused to raise one challenging eyebrow, and didn’t mention that it had been her Dad who had written the paper in question. She didn’t think that Dr Wu knew of her familial relationship with Dr Alan Grant, and she wanted to keep it that way: the less reason Dr Wu had to connect his work colleague/sort-of-boss with the the young human-dinosaur hybrid he’d created, the better.

After all, Claire’s hair colour was very distinctive, and if Dr Wu knew that one of the survivors of Jurassic Park had a daughter of the right age and appearance… he might begin to wonder.

Claire shoved that worry to the back of her mind, and focused on the current issue.

“Why on earth would you bring the raptors _back to life?_ ” she demanded.

“I understand your concerns,” said Dr Wu, in such a soothing tone that Claire glared at him. “But these raptors are not like the original pack. We took great precautions.”

“I’d love to hear about them,” said Claire, her voice hard.

So Dr Wu explained the differences between the original raptors he had created back in the early 1990s, and the raptors which existed now.

“The original raptors were essentially unaltered from their progenitors, save for those sections of DNA which were too damaged to use,” he said. “Those we patched with amphibian DNA.”

“I already know this,” said Claire, impatient.

Dr Wu didn’t seem to mind the interruption, and went on explaining.

“The new raptors, however, are drastically different. Their genome has been significantly altered to increase their sociability, and reduce their aggressiveness – while they are by no means _tame_ animals, any more than any of the other dinosaurs in this park, they are far from the – if you will excuse my deviation from scientific language – _nightmare material_ that was the original set of raptors.”

Claire mulled this over.

“You said that you altered their genome. How?”

“Gene splicing, mostly,” said Dr Wu. “Not just amphibian DNA, but also some lizard DNA and quite a bit of bird DNA. After all, as the descendants of dinosaurs some 65 million years down the line, dinosaurs and birds have a lot in common.”

Claire frowned.

“So what you’re saying is… the raptors aren’t real raptors?”

Dr Wu smiled. The expression was a little condescending. It rankled, but Claire didn’t let that show.

“Oh, they’re real. The bulk of their genome is still raptor. They’re just… new, improved versions.”

“How many are there?” Claire asked.

“Three, at present,” said Dr Wu. “They will shortly be joined by a fourth. You can see them, if you like. They’re still juveniles – essentially harmless, at this stage. Their handler says that the only real damage they do is to his boots.”

Claire thought about meeting the raptors. In the end, she only had one possible answer.

“I’d like to see them. See for myself that they’re not a danger to the park’s guests,” Claire added, although that was only half her motivation.

The other half of her motivation was to meet the creatures which had a hand in her own genetics. Claire had wondered, all her life, what it would be life to meet a genuine raptor. Whether she would connect with raptors in a way she never had with humans. She still felt jittery and unsettled, here in the labs with the smells of chemicals all around her, but… well. They were _raptors_. Of course she wanted to meet them.

Dr Wu smiled.

“Of course. If you’ll come with me, I’ll take you to their room.”

“Their room?” 

Dr Wu glanced at Claire as he moved towards the door. 

“We have them housed in a room within the labs for observation, as well as any necessary medical intervention. In a sense, these animals are entirely new. There’s no telling for sure how they’ll cope with the modern world. They’ll be moved to a more appropriate enclosure once they’re older, of course… but until then, they’ll remain here.”

Claire followed Dr Wu down the hallways into the centre of the complex, the _tap-tap_ of her heels loud in the hushed environment.

Dr Wu stopped at one particular door, and swiped his pass. Claire followed him inside.

They entered an observation room. On the other side of the glass, a man was – there was no other word for it – _playing_ with three small, streamlined dinosaurs. 

Claire felt her breath catch.

He was playing a game Claire had seen Karen play with her kids when they were babies – hiding his face behind his hands, waiting until the raptors were looking at him in curiosity and confusion, and then uncovering his face again to make eye contact with them.

Dr Wu flipped a switch, and sound from the raptor’s room filled the observation room.

“Hey, Delta,” the man was saying, while covering his face with his hands. “Can you see me?” 

One of the raptors promptly tried to bite his hands with its tiny jaws. The moment it began biting, the man straightened out of his huddled posture and uncovered his face.

“No, Delta. Back up,” he said, his voice stern. The largest of the baby raptors let out a short bark, and the raptor which had tried to bite its handler backed down at the reprimand, moving further away.

“Thanks, Blue,” the man said, and the largest raptor tilted its head at him.

Dr Wu flipped the switch again, and the sounds from inside the raptors’ room cut off.

“Who is he?” Claire asked, into the silence.

“Owen Grady, our animal behaviouralist,” said Dr Wu. “Previously he had a career in the military.”

“How does someone go from a career in the military to becoming an animal behaviouralist?” asked Claire.

Dr Wu shrugged.

“He met all the requirements for the position. We felt that the correct psych profile was more important than his previous experience.”

Claire made a decision.

“I want to go in there,” she said, gesturing towards the room on the other side of the glass. 

Dr Wu’s eyebrows flew up.

“I would not advise it.”

“Why not?” Claire challenged him. “I thought you said they were essentially harmless?”

“You don’t understand – the raptors development is at a very… vulnerable stage–”

“They’ll have to encounter strangers sooner or later,” said Claire, her voice firm. “And I won’t be convinced that they’re not a danger until I’ve seen how they react to someone who isn’t their handler. Tell Mr Grady that I’ll be coming in.”

Dr Wu sighed, and pressed a button.

“Mr Grady, I would appreciate it if you would join us for a moment,” he said, speaking into the intercom.

At the sound of Dr Wu’s voice, Mr Grady looked up from playing peek-a-boo with the dinosaurs. Straightening up, he reassured the raptors that he’d be right back. He went through both sets of security doors, and emerged into the observation room.

His eyebrows rose as he saw Claire, giving her an open once-over. Because of this, Claire didn’t hide the fact that she was giving him her own appraisal.

“Wu,” said Mr Grady. “What’s up?”

“Owen, this is Claire Dearing, our Operations Manager,” said Dr Wu. 

Claire smiled, and stepped forward, extending a hand.

Mr Grady shook it. He had a solid, firm grip, but didn’t try to crush Claire’s hand the way that some men did. Not that it ever worked, of course. Claire’s strength was still a little above the human norm.

“Owen Grady,” the raptors’ handler introduced himself. “Animal behaviouralist.”

“Ms Dearing wants to meet the raptors,” said Dr Wu.

“What?” Mr Grady blinked.

“Mr Grady,” said Claire, keeping her voice friendly but professional. “The safety of every person within this park is my responsibility, and I happen to be familiar with the reputation of the last lot of raptors Dr Wu resurrected.” Claire saw Dr Wu’s expression tighten at that, and added in a quick aside, “Not that he is in any way to blame for what happened, of course. But anyone who knows the history of Jurassic Park must necessarily be concerned about the fact that a second attempt at de-extinction has been made.”

Mr Grady looked at her for a moment.

“You read that paper by Dr Grant, didn’t you.” His statement wasn’t a question.

Claire smiled at little.

“As it happens, I did. While I understand that these aren’t the same animals that Dr Grant encountered, it would still be remiss of me not to examine their behaviour for myself. First-hand.”

Mr Grady gave Claire a long, assessing look. Then he looked at Dr Wu, who nodded slightly.

“Alright,” said Mr Grady. “If we’re doing this, then I guess we’d better do it. Follow me. Oh,” he added, as Claire followed him through the two sets of security doors, “and prepare to have your ankles bitten.”

Before Claire could answer, they were inside the raptors’ room. 

Claire’s nostrils flared, the scent that pervaded the room triggering feelings of safety and comfort, like coming home after a long journey.

The raptors all stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Mr Grady and Claire, tilting their heads and sniffing the air.

“Alright girls, I brought you a visitor,” said Mr Grady. “Play nice, now.”

One by one the three raptors, led by the largest one, moved forward.

Claire crouched down, and held out a closed fist for the baby raptors to smell.

“I wouldn’t–” said Mr Grady, sounding vaguely alarmed, but the leader brought her head forward to sniff Claire’s hand more closely. A second later, the raptor let out a surprised and delighted trill, and rubbed her head against Claire’s hand.

Within moments, the other two raptors had joined the first one, both of them following suit. Claire barely resisted the urge to let a soft coo escape her – but she couldn’t forget that Dr Wu was on the other side of the one-way glass, watching and listening to every move and sound she made. Not to mention the camera mounted at baby raptor-height, no doubt recording every moment. Claire couldn’t afford to vocalise like a raptor right now, however much she might like to.

Claire slowly unfolded the fist she’d made, and began rubbing gently at the baby raptors’ eye ridges. They cooed in pleasure, and began vying for her attention, shoving each other out of the way.

“Huh,” said Mr Grady, and when Claire glanced at him, his expression was surprised. “That’s new.” But he looked like he was already trying to calculate what the raptors’ reactions to Claire meant, in terms of their behaviour.

Claire looked away from him, and back down at the baby raptors. Breathing in their scent, something protective unfurled in her chest. Claire knew that even though she’d only just met the raptors, she was already thinking of them as _pack_ – just as they had recognised her, in the same way, and accepted that she was one of them.

“They’re lovely,” Claire blurted out, before she could think better of it.

“Yeah, they’re just cute, tiny, juvenile versions of one of the most dangerous animals to ever walk the earth,” said Mr Grady, but he sounded fond. He nodded to the leader of the tiny pack. “That’s Blue. She’s my beta. I’m the alpha.”

Claire scoffed quietly. But Mr Grady had better ears than she expected.

“You have something you want to say?” he asked her.

“You’re not the alpha,” said Claire, with bone-deep certainty. “They listen to you because you’re their _parent_. Besides: the studies that described alpha-beta-omega dynamics were deeply flawed, and all the current studies suggest that actual pack dynamics are completely different – not to mention that applying a _mammalian_ set of social dynamics to animals which are more closely related to _birds_ than mammals is, well – likely to be inaccurate.”

Mr Grady’s eyebrows were raised again.

“Touche,” he said, eventually. “You know a lot about animals? I thought you were more, you know,” he waved a vague hand, “a management type.”

Claire sent him a smile.

“Mr Grady, I work in an animal park; a fancy animal park, but still an animal park. How could I understand the requirements of this park if I knew nothing about animals?”

“You have a good point,” said Mr Grady, and Claire thought that there was a look of respect in his eyes which hadn’t quite been there a moment ago.

Claire looked back down at the raptors. Blue had pushed her way to the front of the group, and was the current recipient of Claire’s eye-ridge rubs.

“How big will they be, once they’re fully grown?” asked Claire.

“We’re not quite certain, since these guys are different to the last lot of raptors the lab made, and there’ve been some genetic adjustments, but – at a guess, probably about six feet tall?” said Owen, watching Claire and the baby raptors with an underlying intentness which was at-odds with his carefully-relaxed expression.

Blue took a step back from Claire, and one of the other raptors moved forward to replace her, letting out a bird-like sound.

“Who’s this?” asked Claire, rubbing the new raptor’s eye-ridges. Claire’s eyes tracked the raptor’s movements, observing that the way she moved was subtly different from Blue.

“That’s Delta,” said Mr Grady.

“Her movements seem to be more bird-like than Blue’s,” said Claire.

“Uh, yeah, well-spotted. Delta’s got a lot more bird DNA than the other two. So far they haven’t had any trouble communicating, though.” Mr Grady nodded at the third raptor, who was noticeably smaller than the others, and who had more brown in her colouration than Blue or Delta. “That’s Echo. She’s the baby of the pack.”

“Are they sociable? With each other, I mean,” Claire wanted to know, thinking back to all her Dad’s papers on raptors, and to what she’d been told about the ones living at Jurassic Park before they’d escaped and killed people. 

The lead raptor had killed most of her siblings, Claire remembered, leaving the pack only three in number. 

“They’re pretty good with each other,” said Mr Grady, unaware of Claire’s train of thought. “I mean, Delta sometimes tried to bully Echo, but Blue puts a stop to that pretty quick.”

“I see.” Claire looked down at the baby raptors, and tried to pretend that her heart hadn’t melted at the sight of them.

“Are you satisfied that the raptors are not a threat, Ms Dearing?” Dr Wu’s voice spoke from the intercom.

“For now,” Claire agreed. She looked back at Mr Grady. “Would it be a problem if I visited the raptors again sometime in the future?”

Mr Grady looked startled.

“Well, uh, the raptors seem to like you,” he said slowly, like he was thinking aloud. “And it’s a good test of how sociable they are with humans, so… as long as Dr Wu’s happy about it, I don’t mind.”

Claire looked back to the one-way glass.

“Dr Wu? What do you think?”

“I find the raptors’ friendliness towards you to be intriguing,” Dr Wu’s voice said. “It would be interesting to see if that continues as they age.”

Claire’s skin prickled uneasily at the thoughtful tone in his voice, but shook it off. She finished rubbing Echo’s eye-ridges and straightened up, ignoring the forlorn creels from the baby raptors as she stopped patting them.

“I should get back to work,” she said briskly, shifting back into her businesswoman persona. “But in that case, I’ll certainly be back.”

“Judging by the raptors’ reactions so far, you’ll be welcome,” said Mr Grady. “And I have to admit, it would be nice to see another human face around here. I don’t really get out much. Looking after three baby dinosaurs takes up a lot of my time.”

Claire smiled. Mr Grady smiled back, and Claire felt a _frisson_ of warmth and realised, with mild surprise, that she was attracted to him. 

She turned that idea over in her head, even as she said aloud, “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you and the babies–”

“Raptors.” Mr Grady looked torn between amusement and mild concern at the way Claire had referred to his charges.

“ –baby raptors,” Claire corrected herself without missing a beat, “and I suppose I’ll see you again soon, Mr Grady.”

“Please, call me Owen. And I look forward to it.”

Claire smiled at him, before letting herself out through the security doors.

Dr Wu was still there, and he gave her a contemplative look as she walked back into the observation room.

But all he said was, “I am glad that you are no longer concerned about the raptors’ existence.”

“Oh, I have concerns,” said Claire, but smiling in order to defuse any tension. “But so far… everything seems to be going fine. And I have to admit: the raptors are kind of cute. Considering.”

Dr Wu smiled indulgently.

“Considering,” he agreed. “But then, aren’t most species considered cute, as juveniles?”

“I suppose so.”

“We will have to see how your relationship with them unfolds. I look forward to it with great interest.”

Somehow, those words sent chills up Claire’s spine.

She gave a polite smile, and made her excuses. Making her way back through the rest of the labs, where everything smelled strangely, terribly familiar, wasn’t fun. But Claire’s mind was still on Dr Wu’s parting words.

Maybe it was nothing. Maybe Dr Wu’s tone of voice hadn’t been something to worry about.

But Claire felt like she wanted to snarl and take a bite out of something, every instinct on-edge… and she knew, with horrible certainty, that she needed to watch her step around Dr Wu from now on.


End file.
